Solid-state electrolytes present various advantages over liquid electrolytes for primary and secondary batteries. For example, in lithium ion secondary batteries, inorganic solid-state electrolytes may be less flammable than conventional liquid organic electrolytes. Solid-state electrolytes can also faciliate use of a lithium metal electrode by resisting dendrite formation. Solid-state electrolytes may also present advantages of high energy densities, good cycling stabilities, and electrochemical stabilities over a range of conditions. However, there are various challenges in large scale commercialization of solid-state electrolytes. One challenge is maintaining contact between electrolyte and the electrodes. For example, while inorganic materials such as inorganic sulfide glasses and ceramics have high ionic conductivities (over 10−4 S/cm) at room temperature, they do not serve as efficient electrolytes due to poor adhesion to the electrode during battery cycling. Another challenge is that glass and ceramic solid-state conductors are too brittle to be processed into dense, thin films. This can result in high bulk electrolyte resistance due to the films being too thick, as well as dendrite formation, due to the presence of voids that allow dendrite penetration. The mechanical properties of even relatively ductile sulfide glasses are not adequate to process the glasses into dense, thin films. Improving these mechanical properties without sacrificing ionic conductivity is a particular challenge, as techniques to improve adhesion, such as the addition of a solid polymer binder, tend to reduce ionic conductivity. It is normal to observe more than an order of magnitude conductivity decrease with as little as 1 wt % of binder introduced. Solid-state polymer electrolyte systems may have improved mechanical characteristics that faciliate adhesion and formation into thin films, but have low ionic conductivity at room temperature.
Materials that have high ionic conductivities at room temperature and that are sufficiently compliant to be processed into thin, dense films without sacrificing ionic conductivity are needed for large scale production and commercialization of solid-state batteries.